


On the Other Side

by grandmelon



Series: SR Week Feb. 2016 [3]
Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Love, M/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-04
Updated: 2016-02-04
Packaged: 2018-05-18 04:42:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5898679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grandmelon/pseuds/grandmelon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Day/Prompt: Day 3/Aiko Desho – Red String of Fate</p>
<p>It's Sousuke and Rin's ten-year anniversary and Rin insists on preparing for it all by himself. Sousuke isn't that surprised to wake up with yarn tied to his finger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On the Other Side

**Author's Note:**

> I know I'm always writing how much Sousuke loves Rin so I wanted to write some of how romantic and ridiculously in love Rin is with Sousuke too, they both complain about how romantic the other is but the truth is they're both a couple of saps...

The first thing Sousuke noticed that morning was not the emptiness of the bed, nor the lack of a body next to him. That’s normal in the mornings, whether they’re a day off or not. He doesn’t notice that the bedroom door is open. He doesn't notice there’s light coming through the windows at full blast, the shades pulled up, the curtains pulled back. What he notices first is the tug on his finger and the spider like touch of something soft against his forearm when he goes to stretch.

 

He opened his eyes to find a curving line of red running down from his hand and across his bed. His pinky finger was wrapped up tight in red yarn, three times around it was wrapped before tying in a secure and perfect knot of a bow. Sousuke’s gentle frown turned into a wide spread smile as he rolled his eyes and got up and out of bed. It was their ten-year anniversary so he figured Rin would be doing something ridiculous. He had been told, several times, that it was Rin’s turn to do something for their anniversary and that if Sousuke did anything he’d be furious.

 

Sousuke decided to trust Rin, though he felt weird about having nothing prepared. He liked to surprise Rin with whatever sappy thing he could find, just to see the look on his face and how emotionally distraught the other would get. The shock in him remembering something insignificant, the joy of having been given something he had always wanted. He wanted to always surprise Rin. Still, ten years, although a big number for their romantic relationship, was hardly anything compared to how long they had known each other and so he let it go. He’d get him back next time for sure.

 

When Sousuke followed the red yarn with his eyes he thought it’d lead out of the bedroom, but it first went on top of their dresser. He smiled when he saw it pooled around a picture of them when they were young, him and Rin and Gou. Sousuke picked up the yarn and started to roll it up, following it into their closet. There he saw the string hanging loosely around their Samezuka jackets, but it first went up to a box on the top shelf. Taking care not to drop the roll of yarn he pulled the box down and opened it, eyes going wide with shock when he saw the letters Rin had given him during his time in Australia.

 

Sousuke had kept them all safe and packed away but he hadn’t remembered where they went after the move from their apartment to their first house. They were in a much nicer box now, so it was no wonder that he had not noticed them before. He closed the lid after taking the yarn out of the box and rolled it up in his hands, untangling them from the hangers of their Samezuka jackets.

 

Finally, the yarn led him out of their room and he smiled at the different photos of them that lined the hallway. The yarn was draped on top of the ones with just the two of them. One picture of them taken right after they started dating, another on their first trip to Australia together. He followed the yarn into their office space, not surprised to see it wrapped around Rin’s medals. Idly he wondered how Rin had found a yarn that went on so long, or if all were like that.

 

The red trail pulled him back out of their office, down the stairs and to the living room without any detours. There the red thread gently coiled around dried roses, a velvet lined box that had held the five-year anniversary necklace he had given Rin. There also were photo albums from their travels. The strings went in on a few specific pages, ones of pictures of Sousuke graduating college and becoming a physiotherapist, and Rin's life as a swim coach. Sousuke had figured that Rin would do something ridiculous and big and romantic, but a knot was growing in his throat as he watched their lives together be presented in front of them like that.

 

It wasn’t a bad knot, but he didn’t know what to say. It was overwhelming, and sweet, and made him wonder how on earth he would win against Rin if the one time he had tried to celebrate their anniversary by himself he had pulled out all the stops. Sousuke didn’t care for material things, what he valued was Rin’s time. Rin’s time with him meant everything.

 

Lastly the red thread pulled him into the dining room, a huge pool of it wrapped up on his arms. He wasn’t surprised to see Rin there at the end of the table, breakfast on full display. Around his pinky was the yarn, wounded up just as secure. Rin was smiling at him and Sousuke choked up, he didn’t know what to say, what he was supposed to say.

 

He knew his love saw his loss of words because he stood up and walked over to him, taking one of his hands.

 

“What’s this all about?” Sousuke settled on, but Rin shushed him, holding out his fist.

 

They did a very, very quiet battle for who got to talk first. Even though Sousuke was at a loss for words, he wanted to tell Rin something, anything, everything. He wanted to tell him ‘I love you’ and ‘I’m so glad you’re with me’ and ‘why would you go through the trouble?’

 

He lost, just as he always does, and he sealed his mouth shut, waiting for Rin’s explanation. His sulking must have shown because Rin laughed a bit, shaking his head, his hair falling against his face. Rin tucked the loose hairs behind his ear and looked up at him, shy and excited. Excited for what, Sousuke could not tell, he could only wait as was the silent agreement of their game.

 

“Sousuke, you’ve always been on the other side of this string,” Rin says, starting as a whisper and growing bolder as went on. His gaze was unyielding, unabashed, straightforward, just as Rin was when he was confident in what he wanted. “I know we don’t need a visible tie between us, but I want to see it, and I want everyone else to know that you and I are made for each other. So, will you marry me?”

 

Sousuke chokes, and the yarn in his hands start spilling from his slack arms, dropping around their feet. Rin pulls out a box then, no more fancy dramatics, just opening it up and presenting it between them. Sousuke doesn’t look at the ring, can’t see the ring even if he tried, his eyes were glued on Rin and growing blurrier with each second. He saw Rin look back up to him and the whites of his eyes making an appearance.

 

He can feel the tears that he had tried to force down slide down his cheeks and he laughed. He laughed and he shook his head and he pulled Rin into a hug, crying into the crook of his neck. There was only one thing Sousuke valued, one thing he wanted in life, and Rin was promising him all of it.

 

“Yes, you hopeless romantic,” he laughs, marveling in the strength of Rin’s arms around him. Now he can feel it, the gentle tremble, the shaky hand gripping at the back of his shirt. He can feel the thumps of their hearts pounding in their chest at a furious pace.

 

“You’ve always been on the other end of my string as well.”

**Author's Note:**

> [my tumblr](http://melonmachinery.tumblr.com)


End file.
